REUTERS/Steve Marcus
Posted on 09/28/2016 7:32:02 PM PDT by Swordmaker
Owners of the top-loading appliances say the machines exploded while they were doing laundry.
Just days after Samsung began replacing defective Galaxy Note 7s due to a risk of exploding batteries, the company faces another major product issue. The US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) issued a warning today after multiple reports of top-loading washing machines exploding. Owners of Samsung appliances in Georgia, Indiana and Texas say that they were doing a load of laundry when they heard a loud boom.
ABC News reports 21 people have submitted cases to the CPSC since early 2015 of washers exploding or blowing apart. One customer in Texas said the explosion had so much force it went through the wall of her garage. Samsung is also facing a class-action lawsuit in New Jersey over the issue.
Following the reports, the CPSC made the formal warning for top-loading Samsung units made between March 2011 and April 2016, but it didn't get specific with model numbers. In a statement on its website, the company says that it's working with US regulators "to address potential safety issues." Samsung says that "in rare cases," the washing machines "may experience abnormal vibrations" when customers are washing bulky items like bedding. Those vibrations might pose a safety risk or could cause property damage, the company explained.
"It is important to note that Samsung customers have completed hundreds of millions of loads without incident since 2011," the statement said.
For now, Samsung recommends that owners use the low-speed delicate cycle when washing "bedding, bulky or water-resistant materials." So far, there haven't been any issues reported while using that setting. Front-loading models aren't affected, but if you own one of Samsung top-loading appliances, you can check to see if you need to take precautions by entering the serial number here.
you can’t make this stuff up. . . one wonders: did someone leave their Samsung Note 7 in the pocket of their jeans while trying to wash them in a Samsung Washing Machine?
Who knew they had a built in inductive charger in those washers?
The last time I heard about an exploding washing machine came from the time when they were still running on gasoline. . . back when my father’s very first job was as the “Loneliest Man In Town”, the county Maytag Repairman, before he got trained as an aircraft repairman in the mid-1930s. He told stories of exploding washing machines. . .
Just bought one today! Goodbye cruel world!
Oh, dear, I have one of these washing machines. Knowing which model numbers are affected would help. I guess I need to check it.
To date, the fatalities and collateral damage caused by our washers have been well within accepted norms.
I’ve read about those gasoline-powered washing machines, but never saw one in my old career as an appliance repairman. Plenty of old wringer washers, though...the kind gradma got her tit caught in and whitewashed the basement. Ow!
Boom!
Ow is right. Ooh. Never happened to my mom. She used scrub boards in the bathtub. Then my dad got her a wringer washer, which he hooked up in a covered area near his saw table. She was happy getting the machine. Wringed out the clothes and hung them on our clothesline on reels stretching the length of our deep back yard. When it got windy, I'd have to gather up the clothes fallen in the back yard, and start the wash process again. Millennials have it easy today.
Thankfully, we’ve mostly all got it easier these days. I also remember seeing Grandmother’s scrub board—and she had eight kids. I thought to myself—Good Lord, NO! That tough old gal lived to be 88! And was very good to me...treated me like a favorite son. Miss her, dearly.
I bought Samsung washers for two families I know in Viet Nam. They are very good machines and so far have not dissolved in pyrotechnics. They are not like the machines for sale here, though, no agitator and they take up a lot less floor space for the same capacity. Quieter, too. I would get one for my own house here but only mini models seem to be available on this side of the ocean.
GE spent a bundle on trying to develop a ultrasonic clothes washing machine. I wonder if they found some combination of temperature, detergents, clothing materials that caused problems?
Nah, Amazon just redirected the ratings from HRC’s latest tome to Samsung washers.
I’m not sure what could be inside a washing machine that could make it explode. An extra large capacitor or something? There are some steam clothes washers that might have a pressure tank that could rupture, but I think most of them are front loading.
Surprise surprise. I bought all at once in a package deal from Best Buy, Samsung dishwater which turned out to have a bad circuit board, Samsung refrigerator that developed a fan error, and one of the problem clothes washers. So far, though, I haven’t had a problem with the glass top electric range/microwave and clothes dryer. They screwed up three out of five. Way to go, Samsung.
First phones and now washers. Should I be worried about my Samsung TV ?
I remember my grandmother wringing out the laundry by twisting it in her hands. Now that I think about it, this was really weird because it was around 1950 and she had a TV.
Some appliances were more desired than others, I guess.
My Samsung washing machine doesn’t have a spindle in it, either, and it was bought in Florida.
A very very good small family appliance dealer we use told us not to use Samsung appliances because very few places even know how to service them or can even get parts for them. Samsung simply doesn’t have the infrastructure in place to support service to their appliances. I trust these people and I won’t buy Samsung appliances.
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